Questions about Cold Air Intakes

[spyderbuddy]

ok i checked my intake air temp the other day and it was reading about 100 degrees. the outside air temp was about 84 degrees, 16 degree differance. so my question is what really is the cold air intake doing? how are they getting cooler air to the intake when it is really still pulling air from the engine bay?plus if the intake tube is getting really hot then what is the use? maybe the tubes are straighting the air flow better, the only cai that i see working on being a real cold air intake in the injine and then would not the tube get super hot? therefore heating up the air?

[Mankind]

They are not supposed to be pulling air from the engine bay. They should be pulling from outside and adding a better flow which helps cool the air as it travels to the intake. You AIT sensor may need a relocation to get a better reading on temp. The stock location is horrible and prolly gets a bit of heat soak from raidiator hose directly underneath it.

[rmnc3r]

So, if pulling 'cooler' air from the outside is the goal, then why not just run a tube from the top of the air box (there is an inlet port on the back side, top) to somewhere near the front of the grill? I know the inlet is plugged, but it would be a simple matter to cut a hole in it. It looks like the tube could be routed toward the D/S wheel well and down to the bottom of the chassis; thereby picking up 'cool' air while driving.
Wouldn't this work as well as any aftermarket CAI?

[spyderbuddy]

my thing is there is so much heat being retained by the air intake, that i can't see how the cold air is getting to the manifold. back a couple of hundred years, we had cold air by cowl induction, grabber scoops, ram air. maybe i just don't get it, but if the intake air is over 100 degrees how does this help?

[devildoc]

Originally Posted by Mankind

They are not supposed to be pulling air from the engine bay. They should be pulling from outside and adding a better flow which helps cool the air as it travels to the intake. You AIT sensor may need a relocation to get a better reading on temp. The stock location is horrible and prolly gets a bit of heat soak from raidiator hose directly underneath it.

Spyder - as Mankind has pointed out it isn't nessacarily that hot of air coming in to the tube. The stock, along with most air intakes, the tube sits right above the radiator and the heat with the engine bay heats up the tube and the IAT is reading the heat from the tube and thus cools down, but not very much, when driving and then heats back up when you stop moving. I jsut did a IAT relocate and it took about 20 minutes with my airaid. Let me know if you want a description of parts to get. BTW the relocate makes me read about 5-10 deg above AAT.